She Blinded Me With Science

The end of the day couldn't come quick enough. The final bell of the day came at quarter to four and I bid a quick farewell to Victoria and Katie who had their after school lessons to get to. I had nothing after school, so I wandered back up to my Auntie M's classroom. I knocked on the already open door and walked in to find her looking up and smiling at me.

'Hey kiddo. You had a good day today?' She asked, looking up from her paperwork. She was sat leaning over her bench with a pen in hand and her lab coat still on.

I jumped up on to one of the benches at the front of the class and laid my bag beside me. 'Yeah it wasn't so bad, it's Monday so I'm usually on auto pilot.' I chuckled.

'Do you have any groups or lessons to get to?' Auntie M asked me. I just shook my head in reply.

'Ah good, I could use some help if you have a spare hour before dinner.'

'Yeah I just need to go and dump my stuff and get changed, what do you need help with?'

'The school sorted me accommodation in the teachers quarters, I need to move some stuff in.'

I raised an eyebrow. 'Couldn't you just like, teleport your stuff in?' I asked. I genuinely wanted to know why she was physically moving stuff in. Auntie M chuckled a bit.

'I could, but I need to keep up appearances y'know. Need to look well, normal whatever that is.'

It dawned on me then. Yeah sure she could teleport everything in to the room they had given her but it would be weird if anybody noticed she had all of her stuff there but had never actually seen her physically move it in. I "ahh'd" in response.

'I just have a few boxes and a few cases and some of my supplies I brought some of it up this morning but didn't have time for the rest. Then after we've brought it all in we can go get our tea yeah?'

'Sure thing Auntie M!' I was a little excited as I'd get to go in to the teachers dormitory. Some of our teachers were live in at the school as they had other responsibilities as well as teaching. A lot of the teachers we had either commuted or they lived nearby and most of the live in teachers even dined with us in the communal dining hall. But no students went in the teachers dorm.

We carried on chatting for a bit as Auntie M was busy finishing her paperwork, i even mentioned her altercation with Francesca which I found amusing.

"Isn't there tons of alcohol in the chemistry department store room?" I asked.

"There is, I just wanted to send that little cow away for a while."

I giggled. The nurses office was ages away on the ground floor on the opposite side of the school. Auntie M just wanted her out of the way for a bit, she returned a good twenty to twenty five minutes later with most of her make up removed and a weird shadow on her skin where the pen had stained, oh and a face like a smacked arse.

I chuckled along with my Aunt at her escapades as she was tidying her desk when there was a knock at her door. We both looked over to the to find Mr Evans stood there leaning against the door frame.

'Hi Morrigan, hi Madelyn. Um I hope I'm not interrupting?'

'Afternoon Daniel, no you're not interrupting come on in.' Auntie M said to him. I just waved my hello.

'So how was your first day?' He asked Auntie M. She was grinning a little then slid her pen behind her ear.

'It wasn't so bad. Though some of these entitled little shits need taking down a peg or two.'

'HA HA!' I accidentally blurted out at my Auntie M's remark. I covered my mouth with my hand, a little bit embarrassed I just did that in front of Mr Evans. He didn't really react, he just smirked a little.

'I know what you mean, I have a few like that in my classes.'

I watched this weird interaction unfold between my Auntie M and Mr Evans. He was really making an effort to try and talk to her, I could honestly tell he was attempting to flirt but I couldn't tell if it was working or not. Who am I kidding. Auntie M was still talking to him even though she was slightly apprehensive before with her insinuating he was possibly a magic user. And I guess it didn't matter if he was or wasn't a magic user, she would destroy him. Probably. She ate men alive.

'Well I hope our Madelyn doesn't give you any trouble?'

'Nope, Madelyn is one of my best students.'

Okay I was getting a little uncomfortable now. Auntie M and Mr Evans were staring at each other and I had no idea where to look. I slid off the bench and slung my bag over my shoulder.

'Right I'm gonna go and get changed and I'll see you shortly Auntie M.' I stated in an attempt to get a brief moment of attention to let them know I was still in the room.

Auntie M had shook herself back to reality and stood up, taking off her lab coat and hanging it on a hook behind her desk. 'Oh sure thing kiddo, I'll meet you at my car it's parked round the back of the teachers dorm in about fifteen minutes?'

'Cool, see you in a bit. Bye Mr Evans.' I hurried out of the class as fast as my feet would move with Mr Evans saying "bye" to me as I charged out. I could hear them continue talking as I left but I wasn't going to hang around to eavesdrop or anything. I flew down the hallway toward the stairs; my shoes squeaking on the polished wood floors. I really wanted to get back to my room before Victoria and Katie left for their after school lessons. Then I crashed in to someone. I thought I would've gone careering down the first flight of stairs but whoever I bumped in to was solid and I just sort of bounced off them. I felt hands around my shoulders that stopped me from accidentally chucking myself down to the first floor.

'Woah Maddie, you okay?' It was Liam Blakeley. I'm pretty sure this was the first time I'd ever spoke to him.

I shuddered and hiked my bag back up on to my shoulder. 'Oh! Liam! Yeah um, sorry about that yeah I'm okay. Are you okay?'

'Yeah don't worry about it, I'm just glad you didn't end up down there like a pretzel.' He pointed down the stairwell.

'Well, thanks for that. Sorry but I gotta go.' I said as I turned to leave.

'Can I just ask before you go, you haven't seen my Uncle have you?'

'Um, yeah he's speaking to my Aunt in her class.'

Liam nodded. 'Cheers. You take care okay? See you around.' Liam then strolled up the hallway toward my Auntie M's classroom.

'Yeah, see ya.'

I continued my way downstairs and over to my dorm taking care not to crash in to anything or anyone again, which proved to be slightly difficult as all I could think about was the fact that none other than Liam Blakeley; the most popular guy in school had just spoken to me after I nearly knocked myself unconscious by charging head first in to him. "Take care" he said. "See you around" he said. Nah Liam, that probably wasn't going to happen considering it's just taken you like three years to even say hi.

I made it back to my dorm room just in time to catch Katie and Victoria before they left for their lessons. I told them quickly about what had just happened with Liam and that I was going helping Auntie M get moved in to the teachers dorm.

'Wow I don't even remember if I've ever spoken to Liam either.' Victoria mentioned.

'Same actually. I've never spoken to him.' Katie added. 'He sorta keeps to his own group with all the rugby buffs and the popular girls.'

'Hey maybe he does fancy you Maddie.' Victoria grinned and bumped my shoulder with her fist. 'Anyway we'd better go, we'll see you at dinner yeah?'

I nodded and said goodbye as my room mates left. I quickly changed out of my uniform and in to some comfier clothes; just a pair of jeans, a light jumper with a hoodie over the top and my new trainers. Instead of running over to the teachers dorm, I took it a lot slower and casually walked over to the staff car park behind the building where my Auntie M had just opened the boot of her car. I jogged over and quickly made myself useful by grabbing some of the many boxes she had brought. Auntie M had a few large suit cases she was taking up and after a quick glance in the boot, I noticed there wasn't anything else.

'I can teleport the rest of my stuff in at some point.' She winked at me.

We made our way through the small staff car park, me with the few boxes I was carrying and Auntie M with her big cases. The teachers dorm wasn't unlike any of the other building on the school grounds. It was old and had a huge wooden door that led in to a small vestibule area where there was a large coat rail and a strange little bench where people could sit and take off their shoes. There were a few pairs of hiking boots and wellies stored underneath out of the way. The other thing I noticed was the nice smell that was coming from the back of the building, somebody was cooking something.

I followed Auntie M up the rather grand looking looking oak stair case, trying to take care as I went up the steps.

'Here let me take some of that for you.'

It was Mr Evans, again; stood at the top of the stairs. He was dressed in his workout clothing and was probably about to go on his evening run before dinner. He quickly took one of the cases off my Aunt and one of the boxes off me and easily carted them upstairs. He knew which room was to be my Aunt's so he led us along the hallway to the second room from the bottom on the left hand side. Auntie M opened the door and let it swing open, revealing a rather large, tastefully decorated room with a large window. I would've called it contemporary traditional, there was some nice coving around the ceiling and a rather intricate looking ceiling rose from which a simple but traditional looking six bulb chandelier was hanging from. The walls were painted in a rich, deep maroon colour, the woodwork was oak and the furniture matched, there was even a flat-screen TV mounted to the wall. These rooms didn't seem all that different from ours, but the furniture was of better quality and so was the décor. Our rooms were quite light and breezy while these rooms were kind of moody and comforting in an odd way. I noticed that there were a few large paper bags on the bed which looked to have a brand new mattress on it. Whatever was in the bags must have been the stuff Auntie M brought up earlier.

'I'll just leave these here for you.' Said Mr Evans as he placed the case and box near the door. 'Do you need any more help?

Auntie M shook her head. 'No thank you Daniel this is all I have right now. Thanks for helping us bring this stuff up though.'

'No problem. I'd better go, need to get my run in before dinner. See you later.'

'Later.'

I elbowed the door shut just after Mr Evans had left. 'Well at least you seem to be making friends.' I stated as I placed the box I was carrying down on the bed. I wandered around the room having a nosy. It even had an en-suite bathroom in it too, now we didn't have those.

'Well you know what they say, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.' Auntie M stated. 'Here come and help me put this bed linen on.' She continued, removing all the stuff off her bed.

We sorted out the bed linen and unravelled a new duvet and pillows that Auntie M had bought. Of course because she was a little bit spooky, the linen was black Egyptian cotton which was cool and smooth to the touch. She soon had her room looking like it was hers. Then she brought out the most curious looking book.

'Come here Maddie, I have something to show you.' Auntie M got the huge, heavy looking leather bound book and heaved it on to a special stand that thankfully held it's weight. I went and stood beside her her, looking down on the ancient looking book; noticing it had thick flap keeping it closed and secure. Auntie M was now rummaging around in another box and produced a small wooden box adorned with intricate carvings. After opening the box the pulled out a small, worn leather pouch and inside the pouch, was a strange looking knife. It wasn't very big; the blade part of the knife was barely two and a half inches long and the handle part was just over three inches. It looked like a very short, stubby stiletto knife. The blade and handle were all one piece, carved out of the same material.

'Wow what's that Auntie M?' I asked her, intrigued by this odd little knife thing. Whatever it was it looked really sharp.

'A very, very, very, VERY old family heirloom.'

Auntie M grabbed my left hand and in a split second had jammed the pointy end of the blade in my thumb. I screeched "ow!" as she did that and scowled at her ready to start cursing and swearing when she held my bleeding finger over the book. A few drops of blood hit the leather cover. The flap keeping it closed whipped off and the book flew open right in the middle, the front and rear covers making a slight slapping sound as they hit the stand. I soon stopped whinging. This book was emitting something, an energy that was almost making the air resonate. I could feel it humming.

'Ooh sorry about that but the book only opens with family blood and it likes shocked blood. It knows who you are now so no need to do that again. Oh and this knife...'

I looked at her with my bleeding thumb in my mouth now. Was this book sentient or something? Shocked blood?

'It's made from the femur bone of one of our female relatives from a few thousand years ago.'

I could feel myself steadily feeling a bit nauseous. I don't know if it was the shock of my own Aunt stabbing my thumb, or the metallic taste of blood in my mouth or that fact the thing Auntie M had just stabbed me with was the carved leg bone of one of our great great great whatever to the power of ancestors. That could not be hygienic.

'Okay! So have a flick through, there's a healing spell somewhere in there for flesh wounds why don't you give it a go?'

I sort of stood there for a few seconds in a daze before hovering over the book. With my good non-bloodied hand I began flicking through the thick, heavy pages. Then I'd try turning one and it would just not stay down, it would flip back over. It happened again a few times then all of a sudden, I was practically having an arm wrestle with the book!

'Auntie M!' I shrieked. 'Is this thing alive?' I struggled trying to turn the pages still, the bloody book was fighting me. Auntie M come trudging over and landed her fist down hard on the book.

'OI!' She grunted. 'Don't be a dick, Maddie's new she doesn't need you squaring off with her every time she reads.'

I glared at her shouting at the book. The book had heard her and had started behaving, letting me turn the pages. This, was our family spell book. Our sentient family spell book.